LITERATURE AND NATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

heather j. sharkeyIn the big towns of the North, and in the Three Towns (the conurbation ofKhartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman) most of all, employees alsogathered for literary endeavours, building social circles from friendships forgedat school and in the course of government service. Meeting in clubs or cafés,they lavished time and energy on poetry, experimenting in the process with thestructure, style and content of their compositions. They drew inspiration partlyfrom the works of colleagues; partly from what they were reading in newspapersand printed books (the latter now imported from Cairo and sold in bookstoresin Khartoum or by mail order); and partly from changing conditions aroundthem. As the cultural pacesetter of the Arabic-speaking world, Egypt exerted acritical influence on its thought, providing models for the use of poetry in theservice of modern causes (al-Hardallu 1977, Babiker 1979, Osman 1987, Sharkey2000).Among the educated Northern Sudanese of the early twentieth century, thecomposition of Arabic poetry was a way of life and passion. This was notsurprising in a society where men and women had traditionally set their finestthoughts and sentiments to verse, where big events in life (religious holidays,deaths, even job promotions) occasioned the recitation of odes, and where poetscould wage political battles (ÆAli 1969). Moreover, in a culture where competencein poetry was an index of accomplishment, talented poets were socialleaders, as the Sudan’s first locally printed Arabic books – all poetry anthologieswith biographical sketches – make clear (Sharkey 1998a: 301–2). 2 Thus it wasnatural that the new poets of the early twentieth century (educated in modernschools, employed in government jobs, and mutually connected through newprint and communications media) led the way as early nationalists.If colonial government employment facilitated literary output, then it alsoconstrained it significantly. Poets after 1898 could not criticise the Britishregime or question the British presence, while even praising Egyptians – whomthe British were increasingly anxious to contain or shunt aside – had limits.(Nominally, the Egyptians were co-domini, with a right to a Sudan presence; inpractice, they had been struggling to undo their own British colonialism sincethe Occupation of Egypt in 1882. British efforts to contain Egyptian influencein Sudan were rooted in a fear that anti-colonial nationalism in Egypt wouldinfect the Sudanese.) To enforce the ban on open dissent and to curb shows ofEgyptophilia, British authorities policed the press, requiring editors to submitpre-publication proofs to the Intelligence Department for censorship (Sharkey1999). Sometimes they also stationed informants and observers in clubs or atspecial events (such as Islamic new year, or mawlid, celebrations), where poetsrecited odes before audiences (Najila 1964: 74; Abu’l-ÆAzayim, n.d.: 45–6).Sanctions were simple for those who went out of bounds: deportation forEgyptian and Syrian expatriates (Najila 1964), and professional penalisation for— 168 —www.taq.ir